Winemaking: Viticulture and Enology

As long as the villages of the Cinque Terre have existed (approximately 900 years), wine has been made here. The famous dry stone wall terraces were built so as to make the steep lands arable, and the signature crop was grapes.  Cinque Terre white wines have long had a reputation for quality, which is why you can find them on menus of papal banquets and royal dinners throughout the Medieval and Modern era.

This hands-on study abroad program offers you the chance to learn about traditional, modern, natural, and organic methods of making wine in the Cinque Terre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most beautiful places on earth. Working hand in hand with groundbreaking wine makers of this unique territory, you will learn about soils, vines, pest control, disease control, land management, crop cultivation, and – naturally – enology: the science and art of turning grapes into high-quality wines. You will also learn about the history of wine making and the trade routes that made wine production a viable economic enterprise during the middle ages and beyond.

A trip into the legendary wine making region of Chianti, in Tuscany, will round out your experience, giving you a taste of an entirely different, but no less historical, tradition of making great wines.